As I pause in reading a recommendation, I find myself wrestling with a question; “What do we want to accomplish?”
I know the answer should be obvious. We want to improve our customer’s experience. We desire to improve our profitability. We hope that we are control risk more effectively. This and more are buried in our wants, needs, and hopes. Yet the question of our destination remains. Where will our choices take us? Will we deliver what we hope to accomplish?
The choices long the way are painful. Jobs will move from home markets to operational hubs offshore. Change and disruption will continue to be norms. While we paint pictures of stability and consistency, for the people that do the work it is anything but. Life is filled with difficult and uncertain choices. Life does not come with a playbook. We hold the freedom to choose our path and make our decisions.
In my life, two questions always remain with me. What comes next? What is driving my choice?
It is easy to focus on the first question. The moment is here. A choice must be made. Even if I choose not to act, the choice is in itself an action. The one that calls out to me is “why”. What do I want to accomplish?
In an old conflict, the recommendation was to take the more difficult choice given the motivation. As I read the recommendation, I find myself caught in a model I often fail to complete. “Hold this man’s conduct up to public scrutiny. Let him defend it if he can! But if he can’t, then out with him! It will be totally devastating to him, of course, and embarrassing to you. But better devastation and embarrassment than damnation. You want him on his feet and forgiven before the Master on the Day of Judgment.” (1 Corinthians 5.5)
The driver is the statement “you want”. What do you want in the moment and day at hand? What do I want? Remembering this, in context of values and priorities, will shape our freedom.
